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It would’ve been more useful if I’d found out about this event before it happened, but better late than never… There is a new barbecue event in Fayettevilled called, “When Pigs Fly,” which took place on Saturday. As Chicago Cubs fans say toward the end (or much earlier) of each season, maybe next year.

Today marks the debut of an occasional feature called BBQ in the News, in which we share ‘cue related stories that come from near and far, and range from unimportant to not that important. Enjoy.

The Grinch Who Stole the Birthday Brisket – This story comes from Houma, Louisiana courtesy of The Daily Comet, which I think may be the paper Clark Kent worked at before moving up to The Daily Planet. This sad story begins with Jonathon Pepper buying his wife Brandi a brisket for her birthday. (That’s the gift that keeps on giving, Clark.) Unfortunately, after 2 days of marinating, the brisket was stolen from the couple’s smoker while it cooked. “I would honestly like to know who steals someone else’s barbecue in their backyard,” bemoaned Mrs. Pepper. My theory: Mrs. Pepper herself, in a fit of rage that her husband bought her brisket instead of a pork shoulder.

Free New Year’s BBQ in Fayetteville – According to the Fayetteville Observer, “The public is invited to a free feast of barbecue, collard greens, sweet potatoes and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day.” Need I say more? Get thee to Cumberland County!

The Barbecue Gazebo – Okay, technically this is not a news item. Still, did you know that you can purchase a “barbecue gazebo” from your good friends at Hammacher Schlemmer for less than $1,000 plus shipping? Well, actually, the website says this item is no longer available. Oh well, in that case I won’t mock it.

Barbecue Fork Involved in Stabbing – According to Australia’s AdelaideNow, “TWO men spent their Rudd Government stimulus packages on drugs before one viciously stabbed the other in an argument over sugar.” The article is very choppy and difficult to understand–as if the reporter was also using drugs–but it sounds like the meth using stabbing victim wielded a barbecue fork, while the meth using stabber wielded a knife. Knife trumps fork.

Lexington Barbecue Tourism – According to The Dispatch, the slightly more than one year-old Lexington Visitor’s Center has been an asset to the local economy, in no small part due to its promotion of barbecue-related tourism. More than 3,300 visitors have come through the doors since the Center opened on December 1, 2008.

McRib’s Revenge – The greatest threat to real barbecue since the invention of the propane cooker, the McRib has returned… at least to Las Cruces, according to hometown paper the Sun-News. Run for your lives, good people of New Mexico, save yourselves! Or at least heed the journalist’s advice: “Don’t ask too many questions. What kind of meat is this? Don’t go there. If you overthink this, the McRib will start morphing on you. If you think, ‘This sort of tastes like chicken,’ it will. It can also sort of taste like beef and sort of like pork.”

Last month we reported on a pig named Loopey who was removed from the home of his (human) family due to a ban on swine within Fayetteville’s city limits. The City Council in Fayetteville promised to revisit the issue in early September. True to their word, according to an article in the Fayetteville Observer, on Tuesday night City Council debated the merits of pigs in the city and searched for a compromise position.

The Council debate did not go well for beloved family pet and Autism therapy animal, Loopey. According to the Observer article, “The City Council deadlocked Tuesday by a 5-5 vote, unable to agree on whether to draft a new policy that would allow Loopey – a domesticated pig kept at a house in the College Lakes subdivision off Ramsey Street – to return to its owner under certain conditions.”

The deadlocked vote should, in theory, put the Loopey story to rest. However, I have a feeling this pig tale has legs, at least judging from the almost uniformly irate online comments on the article, which include:

“‘”Hookers’ walk the streets of Fayetteville and the city council is worried about a pet pig. A lot more needs cleaning up in Fayetteville before officials focus in on a childs pet… .” – RL

“DONT THE FAY. COUNCIL MEMBERS MEET THE DEFINITION OF SWINE?” – WADUHMINNIT!

“… i see a rigged vote on city council. i smell a bunch of rats not swine. and i smell a lot more coming from hay street rather than what i normally smell coming from the eastern part of cumberland county on certain days. and the stench reeks of dirty politics.” – chitownjoe

“We should have told the council that Loopy can pay taxes. This way they’d have already annexed her and given her a trash can… .” – Paul

Breaking news from Fayetteville, where an 80-pound potbellied pig named Loopey has hogged grabbed the attention of the community for the past week. On August 1st, the Fayetteville Observer published one of those hard hitting, take no prisoners pieces of journalism for which the mainstream media is rightfully known.

The story reported the heart wrenching (truly) tale of an 8 year old boy with autism whose pet potbellied pig was taken away due to a local ordinance prohibiting swine within Fayetteville’s city limits. The boy’s family did what you might expect of any family faced with their situation. No, no, they didn’t cook Loopey. They immediately started pressuring City Council to overturn the ordinance, with the help of an online petition that had drawn nearly three thousand signatures as of press time. The family quickly earned the support of Councilman Keith Bates, who suggested that potbellied pigs up to 125 pounds be allowed within city limits. (Is it just coincidence that 125 pounds is a nice pre-cooked weight for a dressed whole hog, or does Councilman Bates have a catering business on the side?)

One of Loopey's not-too-distant relatives smiling for the camera.

An August 4th follow-up story in the Fayetteville Observer (motto: “We milk pigs for all they’re worth”) reported that, by a 6-2 vote, City Council had directed staff to research what it would take to revise their ordinance to allow domesticated pigs like Loopey. The same day the paper ran a sympathetic companion story profiling Loopey (An excerpt: “Her wrinkled brow makes her look perpetually angry, but she is anything but.”)